In March 2022, leaders of the Filipino community and local dignitaries joined CSUDH faculty and representatives of the university’s Gerth Archives and Special Collections to celebrate the launch of the CSUDH Filipino American Digital Archive. The event doubled as a chance for members of the local Filipino American community to bring in their own materials to add to the archive. 

“With Greater Los Angeles being home to the third-largest population of Americans with Filipino ancestry in the United States, this new archive is an important addition to the Gerth Archives’ growing list of special collections that document, preserve, and make accessible the histories of the many cultures and people in the South Bay region,” said Gerth Archives Director Greg Williams. 

CSUDH Assistant Professor of Asian-Pacific Studies Mary Talusan Lacanlale said the community was the impetus behind establishing the new digital archive. “Several years ago, members of Filipino American organizations in Carson approached Greg Williams and I about creating an archive to document the important work of the community in our area,” she recalled. 

Lacanlale, Williams, and the staff at the Gerth Archives agreed and got to work setting up a database with initial contributions by local Filipino leaders. Community members are invited to bring their own photos, videos, meeting notes of organizations, and any other material they would like to submit to be preserved for safekeeping in the archives. 

Among the first contributors to the archives were Florante Ibanez, author of Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay, and Linda Nietes-Little, founder of the Philippine Expressions Bookshop in San Pedro and an icon of the Filipino American community. Ibanez donated boxes of his photos, newsletters, and other collected items, and Nietes-Little donated memorabilia along with a collectible copy of Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart. 

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